The Potential Community Effects of the New Providence Overdose Prevention Center

In an effort to reduce fatal drug overdoses, Providence nonprofit Project Weber/RENEW cut the ribbon on Tuesday to a new facility at which people will be able to use drugs under medical supervision.

When it opens to clients, the “Overdose Prevention Center,” or OPC, will be the first in the U.S. to be approved under regulations created by state law. OPCs currently exist in the U.S. in a gray area of federal law: not explicitly banned but not clearly condoned.

New York City opened the nation’s first two government-supported facilities in 2021, though federal prosecutors have threatened to shut them down and it’s unclear how the incoming Trump Administration will treat these facilities. Vermont plans to open a pilot OPC in Burlington after lawmakers passed enabling legislation earlier this year.

However, similar facilities have been open in Europe, Canada and Australia for years.

Brandon Marshall, professor of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health, has studied OPCs and is currently helping to lead a study funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health on the OPCs in New York and Rhode Island.

The Public’s Radio host Luis Hernandez spoke with Marshall to learn more about what the research says about the effectiveness of OPCs.

This interview was conducted by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire interview here.